THE SILENT SERVICE "Boomerang" 1957
This is the 19th episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.
Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.
This episode, is the second in a row about the U.S.S. Navy submarine, "Crevalle". It is Oct 1944 and the "Crevalle" has been sent to stake out an area near Borneo. They are to look for tankers leaving the oil refineries located on the island. They manage to hit and sink a large tanker. This of course brings instant retaliation from the Japanese escorts and patrolling aircraft.
The sub is forced deep and has to ground on the bottom to hide. They spend hours under constant attack. There is plenty of damage to the ship as well as one man severely hurt when a torpedo falls and crushes him. The "Crevalle" finally gets away and limps back to Australia. The cast is the same as the previous episode with Claude Akins, Grant Richards and John Mitchum being added.
The "Crevalle" completed 7 wartime patrols sinking 6 enemy ships totalling 51,000 tons. The submarine served till 1962 before being discarded in March 1971.
The strange thing here is that none of this story happened. What really happened on the actual patrol was that there was an accidental crash dive. A malfunction of the dive planes causing the sudden dive. The problem here is that the outer and inner conning tower hatches were open. The flow of water through the upper hatch, which was latched open, prevented anyone in the conning tower from closing it.
The "Crevalle" was down 150 feet before the outer hatch was seen to close and lock. An alert machinist's mate, Robert L. Yeager, saved the submarine by backing full without orders. The pump room, control room and conning tower flooded completely, and all electrical equipment was inoperative. Yeager received the Silver Star for his action.
The hatch closing was assumed to have been done by the officer of the watch who was not recovered. The man, Lt Howard James Blind, was given the Navy Cross posthumously. The man had only just been married 2 weeks before his death.
Not sure why they did not use the actual events for the story, but it is still an entertaining episode. Maybe the actual action was still Top Secret at the time of the episode production.
This is the 19th episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.
Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.
This episode, is the second in a row about the U.S.S. Navy submarine, "Crevalle". It is Oct 1944 and the "Crevalle" has been sent to stake out an area near Borneo. They are to look for tankers leaving the oil refineries located on the island. They manage to hit and sink a large tanker. This of course brings instant retaliation from the Japanese escorts and patrolling aircraft.
The sub is forced deep and has to ground on the bottom to hide. They spend hours under constant attack. There is plenty of damage to the ship as well as one man severely hurt when a torpedo falls and crushes him. The "Crevalle" finally gets away and limps back to Australia. The cast is the same as the previous episode with Claude Akins, Grant Richards and John Mitchum being added.
The "Crevalle" completed 7 wartime patrols sinking 6 enemy ships totalling 51,000 tons. The submarine served till 1962 before being discarded in March 1971.
The strange thing here is that none of this story happened. What really happened on the actual patrol was that there was an accidental crash dive. A malfunction of the dive planes causing the sudden dive. The problem here is that the outer and inner conning tower hatches were open. The flow of water through the upper hatch, which was latched open, prevented anyone in the conning tower from closing it.
The "Crevalle" was down 150 feet before the outer hatch was seen to close and lock. An alert machinist's mate, Robert L. Yeager, saved the submarine by backing full without orders. The pump room, control room and conning tower flooded completely, and all electrical equipment was inoperative. Yeager received the Silver Star for his action.
The hatch closing was assumed to have been done by the officer of the watch who was not recovered. The man, Lt Howard James Blind, was given the Navy Cross posthumously. The man had only just been married 2 weeks before his death.
Not sure why they did not use the actual events for the story, but it is still an entertaining episode. Maybe the actual action was still Top Secret at the time of the episode production.